Micah 5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces… The term "Assyrian" may he regarded as symbolically used, the great enemy of the Jews being made to represent generally the enemies of man, or particularly of the Church. One of the titles under which Isaiah announces the Child that should be born is "Prince of Peace." The chorus of the angels mentions "peace." The angels associated the incarnation of the Saviour with the reestablishment of peace on the disquieted earth. In the apostolic writings peace is equally associated with Christ, and especially attributed to His death. Except through Him there could be no reconciliation of the human race to God. Christ Jesus, by His obedience and death, removed every obstacle to the free forgiveness of sinners, and thus in the largest sense reconciled the world unto God. There are other reasons why Christ may be affirmed to have accomplished our text. It is the tendency and property of the Christian religion to heal all differences between man and man, and to produce and preserve universal harmony. In the very degree in which the religion of Christ now gains a hold on individuals or families, it vindicates its character as a religion of peace. It cannot establish its dominion in the heart without producing a disposition towards goodwill to all men. Christianity, going straightway to the inner man, throws the salt, as it were, into the very fountains of the waters of strife, and by healing the springs, sweetens all their after flowings. Who shall order the jarring elements of the world into harmony? Make true Christians of all men, and then, such will be the principles which are universally acted on, such the motives which will be universally at work, such the ends which will be universally proposed, that divisions must disappear, because every one will seek the good of others in seeking his own. In an individual and personal sense, too, Christ is our peace. (Henry Melvill, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. |
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